Saturday, January 21, 2012

I hesitate to call myself a professional gambler. Professional bettor might be more accurate.

Last week, I went four for four against the spread, which is the only thing that counts. Tomorrow, I will be wagering on both NFC-AFC match ups. Legally, of course.

I don't care two shits about who wins- my goal in life has always been to turn a profit. Here then are my picks. I like to put my money where my mouth is. Ahead of time.

NY Giants at San Francisco -2.5

The Giants bounced into Lambeau Field last week and handed GB their head. I liked that. I don't like Aaron Rodgers. I'm a Favre man. At any rate, the Giants are peaking at just the right time. Throughout my sports betting history, I can think of a number of mediocre teams that catch fire at precisely the right time. They become very dangerous teams. Having said all that and watching SF play my Saints- like champions- I am betting on San Francisco and giving the points. A team that can come back twice late- is not a team I can bet against. That type of tenacity means that even if SF loses- they will be in this game to the wire. I don't think the Giants can bring that "A" game twice. Not only is SF's offense just as good as NY's if not better, so is their defense.

I am betting 110.00 on San Francisco and giving the points.

Baltimore Ravens at NE Patriots +7.5

This is an interesting game from a betting standpoint. The Pats are the perennial gatekeepers in the AFC. To get to the big game, it seems you have to get by the Pats most of the time. I love their quarterback and their coach. I see this game as a 50-50 tilt. Seven and a half points is too much. A sucker line. I am taking the points.

The money line is +250. A straight up bet on the Ravens (100.00) to win gets you +250.00.

All that searching was in vain. Who are we to disagree with the experts?

That's the same thing our government says about UFOs and the same conclusions atheists use in determining the presence of God. The evidence is in. We have reached a conclusion. The G Spot, UFOs, and God do not exist. Trust us, we know everything. We are the experts.

Before he died, George Carlin could not figure out why the American people voted for candidates that represented nobody's interests but the rich and elite. Neither can I.

The rich and elite, the status quo of this country, control the unveiling of candidates. They decide who the President is going to be because they control the nominees. That is why every election year we all trudge to the polls, pissed because we have two terrible choices. Voting for the lesser evil.

Of course, that is what is going to happen again. That is not coincidence. That's the way the status quo want it. They want certainty. They do not want some loose cannon in there that represents the middle class. They want a couple of proven schmucks that won't upset their tax holiday apple cart.

I don't mind that Romney is rich. What I do mind is that he is an elite tax dodger like the rest of his class. Romney has Cayman Island investments. The Cayman Islands is a tax dodge. A place to hide money. That third paragraph is huge. Candidates get spokespeople so that they don't have to lie directly to the public. Spokespeople are verbal bodyguards. Their job is to fall on a sword for their bosses.

Note that third paragraph again. Romney's Cayman Island investments are "managed on a blind basis" according to his campaign spokesperson. Note that Ms. Saul used an "email" to say this. Romney simply turns his money over to someone else who stuck it in the Caymans. The interpretation is leading the reader to make an assumption and conclusion. Read- it's not his fault!

That is an outright lie. Total bullshit. Professional bankers find ways to create and preserve wealth. Dodging taxes is nearly a full time occupation for them. The entire tax code was created by the wealthy and elite for the wealthy and elite. Romney's money is in the Cayman Islands because Romney wanted it there.

The spokesperson? A liar. Managing Romney's image. Employed for that very reason. Andrea Saul was a campaign cheerleader for John McCain in 2008. She was only 26! Her background, prep school and Vanderbilt, just oozes elite. It doesn't hurt that she is young and very attractive. Of course. Here's a good snip about her even though I never cared much for liars. Even attractive ones. http://daltondailycitizen.com/local/x488824047/Daltons-Andrea-Saul-working-on-McCain-campaign

It's one big elite club and you ain't in it. The grooming has begun for Andrea. I guess we all can't have rich daddys and pretend we made our own breaks in the world.

Romney has vowed to disclose his tax return yet he hasn't done so yet. Instead he "leaks" that he only paid 15% in taxes last year. Imagine that. A wealthy tax dodger. A professional banker with hundreds of millions paying less in taxes than every worker in this country.

Mitt Romney is a fantastic example of everything that is wrong with this country. He is wealthy and elite. He represents the status quo. He is a professional banker with five mansions. He is not indecisive he just appears to be as he tries to cast a large net that appeals to everyone. He is not out of touch. He is absolutely in touch. He knows precisely who he REALLY represents. And that's not the saps in the net.

Why do we vote for guys like this? Because that's who the elite selected for us. It's a game for suckers who think they have a choice. The elite stole this election, just like the last one, months before we even had the election. Greedy bastards. All that's left now is the mad scramble for the exits as the U.S. tries to figure out who is going to pay this 16.2 trillion debt. Clearly it ain't gonna be Romney and his elite buddies- parked in the Caymans.

*Here's a great video on Mitt Romney for all you big believers. Hat tip to Blurred.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Let me explain a little something here. I have quit drinking and smoking. I have all but quit gambling although I do go to the track once in awhile. I am virtually celibate. I am in between wives. I have quit eating carbohydrates. Sometimes, I even listen to Christian radio. Yea. I'm not kidding.

The last sacred cow I have left is profanity. The spice rack of speech. Ohh...how I cling to cursing like a drowning man to a life raft. It was the one last thing I could do. My last act of rebellion against the masses. That hoi polloi who legislate and tell you how you should live every facet of your life and then desperately seek laws to force you into compliance. Like not using profanity. Freedom is a ridiculous concept to the hoi polloi. Surely, dropping the "F" bomb must be the eleventh commandment they think. Free speech? The hoi polloi believe in free speech just as long as they get to edit it first.

I am trying to imagine a life where I say "gosh or fudge, maybe shucks." Things like that. I am not sure I can do it. I don't even like people who say those things.

In fact, I don't like people who don't swear. Cursing is the absolute only thing I like about Obama. Really.

I know a couple of people who don't swear. Crusaders. I don't like them much. Point men for the hoi polloi.

There is a kid, now in college at Ricks College in Idaho. A mormon of course. Mormon founders believed it was ok to have several wives but cussing was verboten. Anyway this kid, first name McKay, started the "No Cussing Club." This apparently is the mark he has left on the world. Click here to view this dude who knows how you should behave : http://www.nocussing.com/

So I am going to try and not use the F bomb anymore. At least when I am writing. No way can I "cold turkey" my whole speech thing. So I am going to slowly wade in. Try to be, oh this stings, "compliant." Jeebus. I might say "Jeebus" once in awhile. For now, I will try the mormon thing.

But I reserve the right to change my mind. I like the spice rack of speech. That's who I am as a person. That's what Dear Leader would say.

Los Angeles wants to send the right message. They want porn stars to wear condoms.

This is a state burdened by billions of dollars in debt. They have a crumbling infrastructure and bankrupt cities. Their citizens are woefully over taxed. Corporations and residents are fleeing the state, looking for any place with less regulation. Which is virtually anywhere. California has serious problems.

And what is Los Angeles concerned about? That porn stars wear condoms.

Politicians, lacking any personal courage or tenacity when asked to solve real problems effecting millions of people, instead turn their attention toward that one giant question each and every one of us asks upon awakening each morning. "When are they going to make porn stars wear condoms?"

The porn industry is so wrong in so many ways. It's just sort of a giant mess that exploits actors, which in turn exploits voyeurs customers willing to pay to watch other people have sex. It is a lustful market that waves the first amendment trump card. We tolerate it perhaps- because we have this archaic idea that free speech (which certainly isn't free in most places) applies to the porno industry as long as everyone gets their cut and the districts get their tax revenue.

Of course they have enforcement issues with a bad law like this. Like trying to identify the face of a man who is never in a shot but instead features one bare, naked, penis. There are jurisdiction and statute of limitations problems. Undoubtedly the politicians will be able to solve all of those problems by passing even more ridiculous laws that will face challenges and line city attorneys' pockets even further. Like laws stating that each actor in every shot must be identified for some later prosecution. That is what government does best. It creates problems where none exist.

It's like a crew of firefighters showing up at a huge blaze but choosing instead to wax the ladder truck.

Los Angeles could send any number of messages. But the message it chooses to send is this, "Watching or engaging in cheap and meaningless sex is fine, as long as you wear a condom." Maybe little Johnny and Suzie will see this porno flick and remember the condom part. After all, politicians have little more to do in California while they wait for more pressing problems to solve. Fortunately, they have not found any of those yet. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46031059/ns/health-sexual_health/?ocid=ansmsnbc11

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

I got sober the year I left the City of Hailey. Very often when I tell my story, I talk about you calling me Chief Black Cloud as you walked through the police department in the mornings. I told that part of my story to 300 people once and they got a big kick out of it.

I want to thank you for doing that.

I used to say to myself after you walked thru, yea I know I'm depressed...so how the fuck do I fix it? That was the 64k question.

I repaired my life with Des- the biggest hard ass I've ever known. He could make a sailor blush and although he died 4 months after I met him, his influence and his unflinching ability to attach responsibility stuck with me.

I've been sober 8 and a half years and they have been the best years of my life.

You could never have known how much your observations impacted me. Not because you were mean spirited or anything but because it was the truth. I used to think how obvious it must be that random people could walk thru our office and diagnose my depression.

Your comments reminded me of a book I once read...the Five People You Meet In Heaven.

Nothing pisses me off more than listening to a bunch of war mongering nationalists claim that Guantanamo Bay is some necessary and efficient piece of the "war on terror." This is absolute bullshit.

I have pissed off more than one debate club on the intarwebs with this position. Interestingly enough, I find that the arguments for Gitmo are not far removed from the same arguments used to kidnap and house Japanese Americans during the 2nd World War. Stop and think about that for a minute.

If you want to anger some older Americans- ask them what due process they employed when ruining the lives of Japanese Americans. You can have some first class fireworks as those unconscious and now ancient nationalists defend the stripping of American rights for no other reason than "we were scared." Yea, that's it. That's nationalism.

You want an example of nationalism on steroids? Hitler's Germany. Citizens of that time still love Hitler. I've met several of them.

Here is the deal. If you believe in freedom- you must believe in freedom for all people. You cannot simply pick and choose when to apply freedom and under what circumstances you will give some. You either represent freedom for all or you don't. You can't invoke the "gosh we were really scared and that justified Gitmo" excuse every time some asshole flies planes into buildings.

A couple of years ago, I got in a heated debate with a couple of high brow liberals over Gitmo. Gitmo is a complete and utter disaster. Once you kidnap people, whether you can justify it or not...once you detain people without due process as war criminals...then you can't even try them in civilian court. This "war on terror" is a war without end. Truth is, it is no more a war than the "war on drugs." Just some made up bullshit. Prisoners have no shot at justice or freedom. None. An unmitigated disaster from a place that calls itself the "land of the free." Do you know how Gitmo ends? When the prisoners all die or get released into society- here. The countries we snatched these suspects from- don't want them back. Does this mean they were likely criminals and undesirable? Of course. But they were somebody else's criminals. Now they have become ours. The countries we exported them from? Very happy. Come get some more, America.

Are some of those folks at Gitmo innocent? Of course. They were kidnapped based on the inaccurate information supplied by self serving and desperate snitches and criminals.

Could we have held these prisoners or whatever the hell they are... on foreign or nearby bases? Yes of course. And that would have made it much easier to release them. Not now.

I am a patriot. I love my country but I do not love my government currently. I love freedom. I believe every human being should have access to freedom. If you want to preach to the world about freedom, I think at the very least you should practice freedom and human rights. That's what we are really talking about. Human rights.

Well, I picked up my new Hyundai Elantra in snowy Salt Lake City yesterday. True to form, the buzzards tried to charge me more on the loan docs than the agreed upon price. I made them re-run the docs- of course. I bought an Ipod cable.

I did not know they had In and Out Burger Restaurants in Salt Lake. After 32 days of this sadistic diet, I said screw it. A double double with everything and some fries. About 1100 carbs. Place was a zoo. No place to even sit down. Odd for 2:30 in the afternoon or so I thought.

I had to wait 30 days for this car after the cease fire was announced. It is black with the black and tan interior, has a six speed manual transmission, and Hyundai's comfort package one. That includes cruise, a/c, trip computer, a few other gizmos. It has satellite radio free for 90 days and since I like "jabber free" radio- I will probably order it. The car exceeds my expectations for a couple of reasons you may find odd.

I am 6'4 and 260 lbs. I hate cars that squish me. This one doesn't. I have at least 6 inches of room above my head and I was completely shocked that I did not have to adjust the driver's seat all the way back. The Elantra looks small inside but it is not. The back seats are very usable with lots of leg room.

The gear box is not sloppy- you do not search for gears. The shifter almost snaps into place. I like that a lot.

The speedometer/odometer are white at night. The other dash lights are all blue. I found that color combination very appealing. The glove box is enormous and it uses a recessed opening latch. It has an eyeglass/sunglass case holder mounted in the ceiling. Very clean, no ugly sticking out knobs. The trunk is huge, you can open it with the key fob, and the back seats lay down adding even more room. Visibility is excellent- which brings me to my only two knocks on the vehicle.

The rear view mirror housing looks almost bulky or odd. This car is so stylish it seems weird that they kind of stuck a couple of chunky mirrors on the car. My only other knock is the mileage. Utah and Idaho have 75 MPH speed limits which means we all go 80. With some serious headwinds yesterday, gas mileage at 80 MPH dropped all the way down to 31 as noted by the trip computer. Not even close to the Elantra's EPA stated 40 MPG. However, I dropped my speed to 70 MPH just for shits and giggles and reset the computer for about 40 miles. I ran in the very high 30's around 39 after the winds had subsided. If I lived in a state like Oregon, with their ridiculous and restrictive speed limit of 65 on the interstate (and the biggest speeding fines in the nation) the Elantra would be a perfect blend of speed and gas mileage.

Road noise it almost imperceptible but I had to accept the fact that this car is not a BMW.

I managed to escape with this car for 15,800. It will only take three years worth of gas money to pay for itself as opposed to driving my F-250 around town. Full coverage insurance on this car was cheaper than liability on my F-250 car crusher. I would even recommend this car to people looking at mid-size cars. Hyundai really uses space efficiently in this car.

So today I am going to go wash the road grime off the car and try to burn off that double/double with fries on the treadmill. Back to the sadistic diet for one more month. I hope I can make 30 more days. May dog gless.

Gas in Nampa yesterday was 2.90. This is as cheap as I have seen it in a very long time.

I wish I had a means of storing gasoline but government laws stopped that long ago. Storing an amount under 500 gallons seems pretty trivial although I have a couple of survivalist friends who have done that.

About two months ago, I began the arduous task of buying a car. I say arduous because I view buying a car like an act of war. If you know the nuances of an auto dealership then you know just what a bunch of vultures they can be. Their goal is to separate you from as much of your money as "legally" possible. My goal is to keep as much of my money as I can. Thus the battle lines are drawn.

First I settled on a car. Originally, I wanted to buy a used Cadillac CTS but eventually the practical side of me won out. After a month or so of investigation and comparison shopping- I settled on the Hyundai Elantra. It was named car of the year last Monday. My new Elantra arrived at the dealership that day. Four hundred miles away in Salt Lake City.

My local Hyundai dealership represents some of the biggest vultures on the planet. Not only do they add every charge they can think of to the sticker price, but they added a 1500 dollar "market equalization" charge to their Elantras. Thus they priced themselves about 4000 dollars higher than a competitive dealer somewhere else. They really have no competing Hyundai dealerships in Idaho so they get away with this crap. I am too old to deal with that kind of robbery. I did offer to buy an Elantra locally for 16,800 which would have represented a mere profit of 1500 plus the extra couple of points that I would allow them to squeeze out of me on the interest rate. Say 2000 bucks, perhaps a little more including hold back. That was not enough for the local vultures. They did not even return my phone call.

I found a market with competing Hyundai dealers in Salt Lake City. I used each of the dealerships to beat up on the other one. Back and forth for over a month. I got the car I wanted, black with a brown interior, but most importantly I got a manual transmission. Not only did that save me another 1000 bucks, but I have been reading reports that people with the manual transmissions are getting better than the stated 29 MPG in city driving. I am old school. Manual trannys are far easier to fix. I tend to own cars a long time. Tomorrow, I will pick up the car. It gets 40 MPG on the highway, has bluetooth and an Ipod cable, heated rear seats (wtf), satellite radio, cruise, a/c. It has a 100,000 mile warranty. It has the best safety rating there is- almost. Full coverage insurance was dirt cheap- in fact it was less than liability on my old truck. I got the car for 15,886 out the door. The interest rate is competitive.

Sales tax is a grand. Damn that stings. But I will pay that in cash.

In December, I spent 480 dollars on gas. This was just driving around town. My old truck only gets 11 MPG. That is painful. Cutting the gas price down to 120-160 a month will pay for the Elantra all by itself.

I had to do some simple math. I based it on 4 dollar gas. In the Elantra, it will cost you 2500 gals of gas to travel 100,000 miles. At 4 bucks, this will cost you 10,000 dollars. In a 20 MPG vehicle, this will cost you 20,000 bucks. In an 11 MPG vehicle, it gets ugly. I will be parking the truck. Spread out over 10 years, the Elantra will cost you 2 grand a year less to operate just in gas.

I think it is very possible that we could see 5 dollar gas very soon. States are going to keep raising taxes. We are past peak oil. Countries (OPEC) are pricing oil and making agreements not to price it in American dollars. The fact that oil is priced in dollars keeps the price low here but stings countries using the yen and the euro. In addition to that, I am beginning to think that President Numb Nuts is trying to start a war with the third biggest oil producer- Iran. Unrest and strikes in Nigeria are not helping matters either. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/15/us-nigeria-strike-idUSTRE80E0AR20120115

My arguments against 5 dollar gas? A strong U.S. dollar in an election year. Obama does not want to see 5 dollar gas this summer. So I am sticking with 4 bucks for this year. That's where I see it. I think 5 bucks is on the horizon for 2013. I really do.

I don't want to be scrambling for an economy car then or trying to unload some upside down SUV when the 5 buck a gallon gas strikes. Or heaven forbid, what if the dollar folds up like a cheap suit and gas heads north of 5? We'll all be riding bicycles soon...which reminds me...spring is just around the corner.